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Not looking back

From Murvi to Hymer and now Carthago, Walter and family have toured right across Europe

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28th July 2016

Back on the road and racking up the miles, reader Walter Olins shares his tale of touring, past and present, as he and his wife look to the future

Our family and friends told us we were mad!

In 1983 I bought a new left-hand-drive Murvi based on a Peugeot van, the first LHD the firm had converted. My wife, four children – ages four to 15 – and myself used to criss-cross Spain in it, with the two eldest sharing the settee-type bed, and my wife and myself and the two youngest strung out on hammocks – one over the two front seats and the other over the rear luggage area.

We used to sleep in hotel car parks, using their washing facilities, but every third night we booked into a hotel for a real clean-up and a good evening meal. We were young then!

In 1990, we gave up motorcaravanning and sold the Murvi. However, in 2003 my wife and I decided to give the pastime another go and went to Earls Court for The Motorhome Show.

Our eyes popped out when we saw not only the motorhomes on van chassis, but motorhomes almost as large as single decker buses. We were totally at a loss as to what to do. Eventually, we gained enough courage to visit some stands and spoke to the salesmen, explaining that we were new to the pastime and did not want to spend more than £30,000 for a LHD automatic vehicle.

We knew nothing about A-class, coachbuilt or Luton-type bodies and left the show with many brochures of new vehicles way above our budget.

Our family and friends told us we were mad, but when they heard about the holidays we started to have, they had second thoughts. Two years later, we again visited a motorhome show, the last one at Earls Court before it moved to the NEC Birmingham. We were now experienced motorcaravanners, and confidently inspected the A-class models. Then my wife saw the Carthago stand and fell for the Chic I47.

We paid a deposit on the understanding that the purchase was subject to a thorough test drive a few weeks afterwards.

The rest is history. We have travelled to Turkey, Sicily, Italy, France and Spain many times over 10 years and so far have clocked up more than 87,000 miles.